With one of league's most road-heavy schedules so far, Van Gundy will take the record.

"We got through a difficult month and a week, a difficult five weeks since we opened," Van Gundy said. "Eighteen games and end up at .500 going into December.

"I'd like to have about four of those games back, but at the same time, when I looked at the schedule in the summer, with all the new guys and young guys and all of that, 9-9 would have been pretty good."

The Pistons are 5-2 at home, 4-7 on the road.

"The schedule has something to do with it," Van Gundy said. "You're looking at a lot of these other teams (that) have played five and six road games. We've played 11."

After a good shooting night against the Rockets -- an awful defensive team -- the Pistons are still 28th in shooting and three-point shooting. But their defensive rating of 99.1 is good for seventh, fueling the team's success.

"We'll take .500 right now, but we think we're a better team because we have a long way to go," point guard Reggie Jackson said. "We still got to prove to ourselves that we're better than this. We just got to shore up some things on offense. We feel like we're getting better, but we still have a long ways to go."

He added to his résumé Monday night by holding Harden to 6-for-15 shooting — although the Rockets star did score 29 points by getting to the line 17 times.

But the fouls came from teammates giving help; Caldwell-Pope had only two fouls.

He played an iron-man 43:47, including the entire second half, with Van Gundy choosing to keep him matched up against Harden (42:22) at all times.

Note: A San Antonio judge has dismissed charges against former Piston Alvin Robertson related to an alleged underage sex ring. The San Antonio Express-News reports that state District Judge Jefferson Moore ruled that Robertson, who played half of the 1992-93 season with the Pistons, was innocent of charges of sexual assault of a child, trafficking an underage child for purposes of sex and forcing a sexual performance by a child. Brent De La Paz, Robertson’s attorney, says, “There was no ring. There were no girls. There was one girl who made up the whole story.” Robertson said Monday he was relieved. He says, “It’s been a nightmare. I am glad to have it behind me.”